William wattie



(No Model.) a I W. WATTIE. SHEDDING MEGHANISM L OOMS.

No. 403,080. Patented May 7, 1889.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM WATTIE, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE KNOWLES LOOM WORKS, OF SAME PLACE.

SHEDDING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 403,080, dated May '7, 1889.

Application filed January 17, 1889. Serial No. 296,661- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM WATTIE, a oiti zen of the United States, residing at Worcester, in the county of \Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shedding Mechanism for Looms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which, in connection with the drawings making a part of this Specification, will enable others skilled in the art to which my invention belongs to make and use the same.

My invention relates to the well-known Knowles loom, as shown and described in United States Patent No. 134,992, January 21, 1873, and more particulary to the harness mechanism of said loom.

The object of my invention is to secure greater ease of action of the harness mechanism, and also to so shift the harness-frames and heddles that the warp-threads in passing from one line of the shed to the other do not all pass the center at the same time; and my invention consists in certain novel features of construction of the cylinder gears and vibrator-gears of the harness mechanism of said Knowles loom, as will be hereinafter fully described, and the nature thereof indicated by the claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 represents, largely diagrammatically, the relation of the parts of the harness-actuating mechanism to which my invention is applied. Fig. 2 shows the connections to the harness-frames, and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are detail views of cylinder-gears of my improved construction.

In the accompanying drawings, the part marked 1, Fig. 2, is a portion of the arch or loom-frame, on which are supported the harness jacks or levers 2 and 3, of ordinary construction, and connected by cords 4 and 5,

passing over sheaves 6 and 7, to the harnessframes 8 and 9. Said harness-frames 8 and 9 carry heddles 10 and 11, through the eyes 12 and 13 of which pass the warp-threads, all in the usual way and as heretofore used.

The return-cords 14 and 15 extend from the lower side of the harness-frames to the other end of the harness-levers 2 and 3, (not shown,) and are arranged in the ordinary manner.

Referring to Fig. 1, the lower cylinder-gear, 16, and the upper cylinder-gear, 17, are driven in the usual manner in opposite directions, as indicated by the arrows, and as fully set forth in the patent before referred to. The vibrator-gear 18 is pivoted at 19 on the lever 20, and said lever 20 is pivoted at its outer end at 21. The vibrator-connector 22 is pivoted at one end to the crank-pin 23 on the vibrator-gear 18 and at the other end to harnesslever 2, all in the usual way.

I have shown in Fig. 1 only a single vibrator gear, lever, and connector;-but in practice there are a series of them placed side by side.

The operation of the harness mechanism is well known, and, briefly, is as follows: The pattern-chain 25 acts on the vibrator-lever 20, through fork 26, to throw vibrator-gear 18 into mesh with either of the cylinder-gears 16 and 17 at will. A roll, 27, on the pattern-chain lifts said vibrator-gear 18 into mesh with cylinder-gear 17, and a bar, 28, allows said vi-. brator-gear 18 to drop into mesh with cylinder-gear 16. I have shown in Fig. 1 the fork 26 resting on a bar, 28, and cylinder-gear 16 is just beginning its action on Vibrator-gear 18, which, when completed, has rotated crankpin 23 about half a revolution and thrown the harnessdever from position 2 to position 3, Fig. 2, which drops the harness-frame connected to that lever. This operation has brought the open space 29 in vibrator-gear 18 opposite the point of contact with cylindergear 16, so that no further action takes place until a roll, 27, on the pattern-chain acts on the vibrator-lever 20, through fork 26, to raise said lever and lift the vibrator-gear 18 into mesh with the cylinder-gear 17, when the revolution of said cylinder-gear will rotate the vibrator-gear 18, and through the vibrator-connector 22 draw the harness-lever back from the position 3 to position 2 (see Fig. 2) and cause it to lift its harness-frame, all in the usual way.

Heretofore teeth on the cylinder-gears 16 and 17 have been made straight and parallel to the axis of the cylinder, so that the initial tooth of the cylinder-gear has engaged at the same instant all the vibrator-gears which have been indicated to turn on a given revolution. The resistance to thus suddenly starting the whole series of vibrator-gears at the same instant is considerable, and, recur ring at regular intervals, causes a good deal of vibration and consequent unsteadiness in running, which has been disadvantageously felt in many ways; and, furthermore, the vibrator-gears, being all started at once, as above described, all reach the center of their halfrevolution at once, so that all the harness-levers, part of which may be going in one direction and part in the opposite, meet in the center of the movement, thus making all the warp-threads which are going down 011 a given pick meet and pass in the center of the shed all the threads which are going up.

Each warp-thread in shifting has to pass not only its neighbor threads, which are drawn into diiferent harnesses, but also the heddleeyes which carry its neighbor threads in all the different frames. The effect of this is to cause great friction on the warpthreads and consequent breakage, which is greatly augmented with tender yarn and in fine patterns.

I avoid the difficulties above set forth by my improved construction of the cylindergears, which consist in making the teeth thereon extend at an angle to the axis of rotation of the cylinder-gears, and so arrange them that the initial tooth will engage the vibrator-gears, to be operated successively, and not all at one instant, as above described.

In the drawings, Fig. 3, I have shown the teeth 30 011 the cylinder-gear made on a spiral, instead of parallel to the axis of revolution of the cylinder-gear. By this construction of the teeth I cause the initial tooth to engage the vibrator-gears successively, the effect of which is to do away with the shock incident to engaging them all at the same instant, and to separate the warp-threads in passing the center of the shed a distance equal to the pitch of the spiral between the points of contact of their respective vibrator-gears. This distance I have found by experiment can be made sufficient to greatly relieve the friction in the warp-threads without interfering with the proper working of the parts in the Knowles head motion, as heretofore used.

Instead of making the teeth on the cylinder-gears spiral, as shown in Fig. 3, I can make them extend angular-1y, (see Fig. 4,) diverging from the center toward the ends, or zigzag, (see Fig. 5,) and accomplish substantially the same result. The cylindergears could be made up of sections and the line of the teeth thereon made to follow angular or zigzag shapes, while still effecting the results I have described.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a loom-harness mechanism, a cylinder-gear provided with teeth arranged at an angle to the axis of rotation of said gear, for the purpose stated, substantially as set forth.

2. In a loom-harness mechanism, the cylinder gear or gears having teeth thereon extending in a line not parallel to the axis of rotation of said gear or gears, for the purpose stated, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a loom-harness mechanism, the cylinder gear or gears having teeth extending in a broken or zigzag line, for the purpose stated, substantially as set forth.

at. In a loom, the pattern-indicators controlling vibrator-levers and the vibrator-levers, vibrator-001111ectors, and harness-levers, in combination with vibrator-gears and cylinder-gears adapted to engage successively the vibrator-gears in the series, for the purpose stated, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a loom, the combination, with the pattern-indicators, the vibrator-levers, the vibrator-connectors, and harness-levers, of the vibrator-gears and cylinder-gears, the cylindergears provided with teeth adapted to engage successively the vibrator-gears, for the purpose stated, substantially as set forth.

V WILLIAM VVATTIE.

IVitnesses:

JOHN G. DEWEY, HENRY II. YOUNG. 

